Abhanga 819
Real love and real devotion are natural, not taught, and cannot be forced back once broken; lived experience convinces where insistence fails.
The verse
वत्स पळे धेनु धांवे पाठीलागीं । प्रीतीचा तो अंगीं आयुर्भाव ॥१॥ शिकविलें काय येईल कारणा । सूत्र ओढी मना आणिकांच्या ॥ध्रु.॥ सांडिलें तें नाहीं घेत मेळवितां । म्हणऊनि लाता मागें सारी ॥२॥ तुका म्हणे आग्रह करावा न लगे । सांगतसे अंगें अनुभव ॥३॥
Literal translation
Vatsa — runs — dhēnu — pāṭhī-lāgīm — prīti — anga — āyur-bhāva. Taught — kāraṇā — sūtra — pulls — others' minds. Abandoned — doesn't unite — kicks back. Tuka says: āgraha — no need — body — anubhava.
मराठी: वत्स पळे, धेनु धांवे पाठी-लागीं — प्रीतीचा तो अंगीं आयुर्भाव. शिकविलें काय येईल कारणा — सूत्र ओढी मना आणिकांच्या. सांडिलें तें नाहीं घेत मेळवितां — म्हणऊनि लाता मागें सारी. Tuka म्हणे: आग्रह करावा न लगे — सांगतसे अंगें अनुभव.
Word-by-word gloss
| Marathi | Meaning |
|---|---|
| वत्स पळे धेनु धांवे पाठीलागीं | "vatsa — runs — dhēnu — runs after" |
| प्रीतीचा तो अंगीं आयुर्भाव | "prīti — anga — āyur-bhāva" |
| शिकविलें काय येईल कारणा | "taught — for cause" |
| सूत्र ओढी मना आणिकांच्या | "sūtra — pulls — others' minds" |
| सांडिलें तें नाहीं घेत मेळवितां | "abandoned — doesn't unite" |
| म्हणऊनि लाता मागें सारी | "kicks back" |
| आग्रह करावा न लगे | "āgraha — not need" |
| सांगतसे अंगें अनुभव | "body — tells — anubhava" |
What it means
A calf-runs-cow-runs-after-prīti-natural-taught-not-effective-abandoned-kicks-back-no-need-āgraha-anubhava-tells abhang. Prīti-is-natural-not-taught register. Three claims:
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वत्स-पळे-धेनु-पाठी-लागीं — प्रीति-अंगीं-āyur-bhāva — शिकविलें-कारणा-नाही — sūtra-ōḍhī-mind. Calf-cow-prīti-natural-taught-not-effective-claim. Thevatsaruns — thedhēnuruns after-on-its-back — thatprītiis in theanga, the āyur-bhāva (life-natural-feeling);what is taught doesn't come-for-the-cause — the sūtra (thread) pulls others' minds.Mother-cow-runs-after-calf-naturally-not-by-teaching.
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सांडिलें-न-घेत-मेळवितां — लाता-मागें-सारी. Abandoned-can't-be-united-kicks-back-claim. What has been abandoned (sāṇḍilē) — when one tries to-unite-it again — it doesn't get-united; therefore it kicks-back (lātā māgē sārī — kicks-the-feet-back). Once-abandoned-can't-be-forced-back. (The image: a calf abandoned by the mother — when one tries to bring it back, it kicks. So-too with prīti — once-lost, it can't be forced.)
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Tuka: āgraha-न-लगे — अंगें-अनुभव-सांगतसे. No-āgraha-anubhava-tells-claim. Tuka says: don't needāgraha(insistence); the body-itself tells theanubhava(experience). No-insistence-anubhava-itself-tells.
[T]
For someone today
A calf runs, and the mother cow runs right after it — nobody trained her to do that, it is simply love living in her body. Tukaram says real love, real bhakti, works the same way: what is merely taught from the outside rarely reaches the heart of the matter, while genuine feeling pulls other people toward it on its own, without instruction. If a bond has been abandoned or broken, you cannot just force it back together by pushing — try to drag it back and it kicks against you, the way an unweaned calf resists being handled roughly. So do not argue people into devotion or insist they feel it; let your own lived experience speak for itself, because that is what actually convinces.
मराठी: वासरू पळते आणि गाय लगेच त्याच्यामागे धावते — तिला कोणी हे शिकवलेले नसते, तो फक्त तिच्या अंगातलाच प्रेमभाव असतो. तुकाराम म्हणतात, खरी प्रीती, खरी भक्ती हीच अशी असते: बाहेरून फक्त शिकवलेलं फार खोलवर पोहोचत नाही, पण खरा भाव आपोआप इतरांच्या मनाला ओढून घेतो, त्यासाठी शिकवण्याची गरज नसते. एखादं नातं तुटलं किंवा सोडून दिलं गेलं, तर ते जबरदस्तीने पुन्हा जोडता येत नाही — जोरात ओढायला गेलं की ते मागे लाथ मारतं, जसं दूध न सुटलेलं वासरू हाताळताना विरोध करतं. म्हणून लोकांना भक्तीसाठी वाद घालून किंवा आग्रह करून पटवू नका; स्वतःचा अनुभवच बोलू द्या, कारण तोच खरा पटवून देतो.
Where this applies
- Calf-cow. Natural.
- Force-fails. Insistence.
- Anubhava tells. Body.